


AP Micro

by ink2819



Series: Microeconomics [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: AP Micro Economics of everything, Economics, High School, If I said this would help you study would you believe me, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2019-11-08 23:21:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17990429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ink2819/pseuds/ink2819
Summary: High School teachers Ryan and Jordan enter a relationship in which neither of them know how it should progress. Economics to the rescue! (Not really)Original story outlined with the themes of AP Microecon. Same setting and characters with my previous work 'Rational Animals'.





	1. Scarcity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we find out how an individual can be cockblocked in a number of different ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -The desire for goods and services is unlimited while the time and resources with which we use to produce these goods and services are scarce.  
> -Scarcity can be relieved by an increase in means of production, which include: land or natural resources, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
> 
> (Factors of **Reproduction :)

Jordan had a feeling that Ryan was tired of his endless excuses.

Last weekend, he was ‘busy with work’, and the weekend before that, he was ‘visiting family’, and this week---

“I can’t, I--My housemate have friends over this weekend.”

“Then come to my place.”

 _That was one of the factors easily sorted out._ Jordan wanted to kick himself. Ryan could just text his housemate---their mutual friend, to find out that the aforementioned temporal occupant in their shared apartment was simply his fabrication in a moment of panic.

But Ryan was looking at him in a way enough to convince him that, he could claim to have seen a unicorn in the conservatory elevator and still be believed. “I’m a bit under the weather...actually.” Jordan swallowed. _Another lie._ “Would rather rest at home this weekend, to be honest.”

Ryan’s expression was immediately clouded with apprehension.

“You feeling okay? Is it something you should go get checked out?”

Now Jordan feels fucking terrible.

“Just tired, I think.”

“Having trouble sleeping?”

 

_Sure, I’ve been getting no sleep thinking about YOU---_

 

“N-no, I stayed up a few nights, ready for a long nap as soon as I get home.”

Perhaps it was the thought of Jordan napping that humored him, Ryan laughed out loud, clasping his hand to his chest and said “Okay, alright. Get some good sleep.”

“Thank you.” Jordan smiled sheepishly.

“Next weekend, maybe? My place? If that’s okay for you...”

  
  


**

Two High School senior girls stood outside the Economics classroom, waiting impatiently for Jordan to start his office hours.

“What do you think they’re doing in there?” Helen turned around to her friend Carolyn, who was swiping ferociously on her phone.

“Sorting out their man-date.” Carolyn replied without looking up.

“How the heck are they taking so long, then? They should be done with their little chat even if they were planning their wedding.”

“I’d kill to see either one of those two in a wedding dress.”

“ME TOO.”

“Sisson has got great legs.”

“How much thought have you given into this, honestly?”

“Oh--I’m barely getting started.”

 

**

Came next weekend, Jordan had finally backed down and agreed to stay the night at Ryan’s place out of guilt.

_‘Spend the night’. Could it be any more obvious?_

Jordan never really had the chance to spend time alone with Ryan like this before. Ryan was always the popular person who enjoyed big crowds and house parties. During the few events Jordan was actually invited to attend, they may have shared a couple of quiet moments. More often than not, Ryan was taking a break from all the small talk and drinking, or stealing a nibble from the living room table or the kitchen cupboard.

But this time, Jordan had Ryan’s full attention. Ryan had no other conversations to rush to, whatever Jordan said, Ryan listened keenly with a fond smile on his face.

“So you think the school is not where it’s at for you.” With them both sitting on the sofa in Ryan’s living room, each a glass of wine in hand, Ryan extend an arm behind Jordan and encourage him to speak further.

“Definitely not.” Jordan said, leaning back a little bit in his seat, secretly content with Ryan’s arm around his shoulders. “I like working in education, don’t get me wrong. But at my age, I certainly am looking forward to doing more, work in different jobs, visit other places, etcetera.”

“I totally get it.” Ryan commented, making eye contact.

“I’m sure with your Stanford degree, you’d also wanna make some cash before settling down.”  

“And UCLA, let’s not forget that.” Ryan replied with a wink.

“And UCLA.” Jordan smiled back.

Ryan’s hold tightened around him, one hand lifting his chin and pulled gently towards him.

They found each other just inches apart few seconds later. Ryan was staring down at his lips, the corner of his mouth in a delicious curve.

“Can I---” Jordan said in a whisper, his heart speeding.

“Hmm?”

“I need to use the restroom real quick.” With that, Jordan stood up abruptly and escaped the scene.

 

 _You’re an idiot._ Jordan looked at himself in the mirror as he splashed some cold water on his face. He then panicked immediately at the thought that Ryan might see his face wet and guessed his moment of crisis in the bathroom, and lifted up his shirt to wipe off the extra moisture.

Good, now he has water marks on his clothes and his damped hair still betrayed his effort.

_You’re so stupid it’s unbelievable._

It wasn’t that Ryan was too assertive in their relationship. He was way too considerate, if anything. But Jordan knew what Ryan wanted as well as the reason he held back from asking. The pressure was on.

When Ryan landed careful touches on his body, was he all about making advances to ease him into something more?

Jordan did not like to be tested out.

He just needed a bit more time.

Jordan would do anything to spend time with Ryan, he wanted to talk, to kiss him, cuddle and touch him back. But it felt nearly impossible with the air full of sexual tension between them, knowing that Ryan was just waiting for the moment to transpire into something else. Sure, he waited with patience, but it was still waiting.

Waiting for something more interesting.

Hell, Ryan might not have been invested in a word he said. Maybe he just treated it as necessary procedure prior to getting laid.

 

When Jordan came out of the bathroom, Ryan sat up right in his seat and turned towards him. A pair of caramel eyes meeting his, on the verge of something difficult to say.

“Jordan, when I asked you to come here tonight----” Ryan said as if he was treading dangerous water. “We don’t have to do anything, if you don’t want to.”

“Oh.” Jordan was lost, stifled, not quite knowing what to say.

“I want us to have a good time, alone. Cause I really enjoy your company. Is that-is that alright with you?” Ryan looked up at him with a slight frown.

“T-that’s fine.” Jordan stuttered in his reply, taking a few steps back to the sofa. Ryan’s weary expression put a lump in his throat. He didn’t like seeing it at all.

“Yeah?”

“Yes..” He wanted to put it out, like grabbing an extinguisher when there’s a fire.

“Is there something you’d like to do?”

“Can we...just kiss?” Jordan asked shyly.

“We can kiss all night if you want to.”

And there it was, that smile.

“C’mere.” Ryan said, holding out his hands to pull him close. And he really did not have to, because Jordan was there with him at once, wrapping his hands behind his head. They caught each other in a eager kiss, teeth and tongue bumping together awkwardly, limbs and torsos struggling to fit, too many hands, too much cloth, spraining everywhere.

But they giggled it off, and Jordan had not felt so silly in quite some time. Maybe it was just one of the magical effects of being with Ryan Eshoff, then. He thought to himself.


	2. Opportunity Costs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jordan could not help but get distracted by his own naughty thoughts about Ryan during his own lecture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. Everything you do will cost you something in return. Opportunity costs refer to the best alternative sacrificed compared to what actually takes place.

At this moment, Jordan could be doing something else instead.

Not something of more importance, but rather something that would feel a hell of a lot better than teaching dry economic principles to a group of teenagers who had no interest of being in this room.

Let’s face it. They were high school seniors, and they could memorize the entire glossary of the textbook in one sitting if they wanted to, there was no use keeping them locked in a furnished hot box all day, force feeding irrelevant information into their brains and pretend it was for the benefit of their education.

Jordan was bored to tears, which was quite rare, because he did not usually get tired of hearing his own voice in a lecture.

He did try making this interesting for his students. Afterall, economics should be relevant for every choice they make in daily life, shouldn’t it?

He had tried asking them to turn in their phones before the class. He tried raising ridiculous examples to get their attention. He talked about dating, having meals at a fancy restaurant, the trade-off between good grades and a better ranking in video games, and he even sprinkled in some details about Ryan Eshoff’s sex life.

Previous sex life, that is.

Jordan had been dating Ryan for about a month now, that painfully wonderful man had taken the initiative to invite Jordan into taking a move on him on Valentine’s Day, and later that day, looked straight into Jordan’s eyes, confirming their relationship in the most tender, unmistakable way.

Up until now, Ryan had always been the one who reassured Jordan of all the would-be anxieties, sometimes of things he did not even know he was worrying about.

So instead of teaching Malthusian economic theories on a beautiful morning, Jordan could be sitting with Ryan in his much more pleasant basement classroom, talking to him, and getting their hands on each other, taking full advantage of Ryan’s free period.

They’d close and lock the door, lower the shades on every window, and turn down the lights so the passer-bys would assume no one was inside.

They’d use the time to revisit that Valentine’s day, when Jordan resolved to abandon all fear and kissed him. Ryan would then try to do things a bit differently than before. He always did, constantly surprising, always creative. And all would be wonderful.

“What we mean by sunk cost is the costs that already occurred and should not be interfering when you make decisions in the future.”

_I had already decided to come to campus and do my job today, hence I’m stuck, and I really shouldn’t whine over the fact the other three trillion things I could be doing with my boyfriend instead._

“There’s also this saying I found helpful. ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk’, or in other words, your costs are not coming back, so accept it and move on. Make the best of what you have in the moment.”

One girl sitting in the front center of the classroom was doing her physics homework on her ipad, and Jordan chose to continue ignoring her.

“Take, food as an example. Let’s say you’re having dinner at the Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino, and towards the end of the meal you realized you ordered more than you could eat.”

For the briefest moment, Jordan wondered if he should take Ryan out there for dinner. Maybe some romantic gesture of sorts from his end of the relationship would be the solution to his endless insecurities. Maybe they could even order a coffee or two at the Philz afterwards, or, before. They could enjoy a nice afternoon together in public, with Asian desserts and hipster coffee, and end the day with steak, table cloths and candle lights. It was always sunny in Cupertino, afterall.

A blissful smile almost surfaced on his face. He reigned in his blundering emotions and kept his expression straight.

_Christ. Snap out of it, you have a class to teach._

“You already made the order, so your money is not coming back to you in any way, it is a sunk cost. So instead of making your digestive system suffer by gulfing down the food you couldn’t finish, you should just leave it there and get the check.”

“Why can’t I just take it to-go?” The kid from the back corner asked him, not bothering to raise a hand.

“Well, for the sake of this example let’s just say you can’t.” Jordan dismissed his objection without a thought. He knew something in the kid’s eyes said to him that he was not convinced.

But Jordan could not have cared less.

“And we can also related that to---” Jordan stopped mid sentence, some of his students are giggling in the back now, quite loudly, and looking out the window. _This is all quite unacceptable._ Jordan thought, _I’m not the kind of teacher who get bullied by a room of seventeen-year-olds---What in the name of God are they laughing at---_

_Oh._

As Jordan looked to the window, a familiar face appeared. It was Ryan, cupping his hands on the glass to form a little shade and looking into the room.

As per usual, grinning like a fool.

Jordan could not help but smile back. “There it is, the perfect man for our next example.” He teased, and made the girls in the front row laugh even harder.

Feeling a little braver than usual, Jordan walked over and slid the glass aside, the cool breeze carried Ryan’s characteristic scent through the screen between them, and all of a sudden Jordan realized this was a mistake. How was he to feign a casual conversation with his secret boyfriend with all these students watching? Standing in front of a window---like a fucking Juliet.

“Hey, can I have a word?” Ryan said. His face was cheerful as ever, as he glanced into the room and spotted a handful of students he knew, and waved at them like a celebrity. “I’m borrowing your teacher for a few moments.” He announced to the class.

“Uh, yes-I’ll come around.” Jordan turned to go through the door, all the while scolding himself to steady his steps. “I’ll be back in a sec. Behave.” He said as he left the room.

“We can’t really leave them in a classroom without a teacher---” He said as he shut the door behind him. Ryan was standing around the corner-next to the sidewall of the portable classrooms. As Jordan walked over, he came close to him at once, hands in his pockets, a cheeky smile on his face.

“They’ll be alright.” Ryan whispered as he was dangerously near. Jordan could feel his breaths on him, his scent, his eyes lingering on his lips.

“What are you doing? we’re out in the open--”

Ryan just watched him quietly while Jordan looked around them in a panic. Not a soul in sight--and the students can’t see them from the classroom.

“Just missed you, thought I’d swing by and say hi.”

_But we only just saw each other last evening._

“You’re insane.” Jordan tried his best to make that accusation sound serious, but his smile failed him miserably. Ryan pressed closer and crowded him against the wall under the shadow of the roof.

“I heard you’ve been gossiping about me with your students?” His eyes glistened with mischief under the shade.

“I---What?”

“Your examples. I see guns and butter is clearly not enough for your little class.”

“I--thought it might make them at least a bit more invested--but how did you--?”

“I have my sources.”

“You’re not seriously saying that my students were _texting_ you during their Economics class, Ryan?”

“No, they posted it on instagram.”

“Jesus--”

“I didn’t know you were so informed.” Ryan said, reaching out a hand to toy with the knot of Jordan’s neatly tucked tie. “But maybe you’d want to hear a little more about my personal life. Might help you come up with some better case studies, hmm?”

Jordan rolled his eyes. “Hardly need to. You can hardly refrain from flaunting those details of your dating life to everyone on campus.”

The remark was greeted with a soft chuckle. “Too bad I can’t tell them about you.”

Ryan’s hand, went to lift up Jordan’s chin with a light nudge--a touch that was barely there--was more than enought to set his heart aflame.

“Hmm, you really shouldn’t.” Jordan replied, looking up into those caramel eyes, the soft creases around them. ‘Star-bursts’, he thought, in the sun.

Ryan hooked a finger under his collar, and gently pulled. An invitation, an offer of smooth lips and a flick of tongue. Warm bodies and cool fabrics, belt buckles coming so dangerously close to produce a ‘click’. soft breaths that tickled, breath that smelled like morning coffee with a lot of sugar--it was all too risky, scandalous, pure stupidity.

 

A muffled, guttural shout came behind them suddenly. The entire wall shook with a loud pang. Startled, Jordan broke the kiss, escaping Ryan’s enclosure as he nearly screamed out loud.

Ryan was surprised, too. It took a second for them to realize what was going on in the next classroom. “Adam is talking about John Brown again.” Jordan said.

“One of these days he’s gonna knock the building down just with his lecture style.”

“Yes--I better, um, get back.” Jordan pointed nervously to his own classroom.

“Yeah.” Ryan’s hands went back to his pockets. “See you in a few hours.”

 

Jordan mustered all his remaining strength to not run back into class like a flustered young maiden.

“Sorry about that, guys.” Jordan said as he stepped in. “Now, those of you who did not turn in your phone at the beginning of the class, or sneaked around and got them back while I’m gone, turn them in now. Don’t you dare try to cheat, I’m head counting the numbers.”


End file.
